1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of automatic meter reading units, AMR units, particularly to such units having replaceable battery packs.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
Currently, the most common method used by utility providers to determine the quantity of electricity, gas and water utility product used by a residential customer services is to read manually each customers' meter. Most of the meters are mechanical. The flow of electricity, water or gas induces a disk to rotate. That rotation forces a set of gears to scroll, which mechanically displays the usage. The staff reading the meters walks from residence to residence, writes down the current consumption showing on the meter, and inputs the information into a billing computer, which generates the individual bills mailed to the customers.
A network, a one way SSDS (spread spectrum direct sequence) network for minimizing the life cycle cost of the system, has been proposed to provide a valid alternative to conventional meter reading and existing AMR technologies. That network consists of a large number of transmitters connected to the meters, transmitting in SSDS packets the readings of the utility consumption; a network of SSDS receivers, each receiver monitoring tens of thousands of transmitters, obtaining the transmitted data packets, compressing the SSDS modulation and storing the data; and a network control center, which collects the data from the receivers via a dial-up line or any low cost communication means, stores the data in a protected database, and prepares it for billing. The network transmitters use a single PCB design, a novel BPSK modulator, low-cost frequency reference, and printed low cost antennae including the matching circuits.
Residential meters, such as utility meters for use with such a network, operate with transmitters having batteries, which must be replaced periodically. Water or moisture, which can produce corrosion, enter the meter box and reach the printed circuit board (PCB) located there, is a problem associated with battery replacement. With the present invention, battery replacement is made faster and safer without water penetration to the PCB or the metal contacts.